Books and minimalism

I went through my books. For several years I have had a really hard time actually sitting down and reading paper books. I love books and I love to learn so this is a struggle. I have figured out that audio is for me! I have been doing audio books on Audible.com and podcasts a lot lately. I can listen to them while driving my mail route or sorting so that is 10 hours at least once a week. I can also listen to audiobooks while running or whatever.

I had 71 books on the shelf that were mine. Many of them I have not touched ever. I had books that I purchased because I wanted to read them.

I had a bible in Spanish and English. If I am going to work on Spanish again as a focus in my life that would be great. But at this point in my life I am not focused on Spanish. I had books because I felt obligated to read them. I am a Lutheran. I feel terrible that I call myself Lutheran and have not read and do not understand all the details of the Lutheran Confessions. I had the Book of Concord and a study Guide. Both of which I have never touched. I am not at a place in my life where that is my focus and I don’t think it will be for the next few years.

I had books that were great but very outdated. I had a book titled Getting Business to come to You. It was quite humorous to read because it was written in 1990. It talked alot about typewriters and 35mm cameras. It had no mention of blogs, social media, the internet, e-commerce. It was a great book and had great ideas which need to be applied to the 21st century. But I don’t need to go through the work of applying those ideas. I can find similar books that have already thought through how to apply it.

I had books that I don’t enjoy reading. Mere Christianity is a book that a few friends of mine really love. I agree with what I was reading. I think that the book offers great value to some, but for me it… wasn’t the bible… it wasn’t devotional…. It wasn’t prayer…. It just didn’t really have a place in my life. It seemed to me to be a book for someone struggling or someone who had struggled in their faith or maybe came to Christianity later in life. It really wasn’t a book for me.

I absolutely love the library. We go to the library once a week usually. We have access to thousands of books and movies. Right now we have 50 items checked out. I can get almost any book that I want from the library within a few days.

I have not counted my personal bible, my personal catechism. I also did not count devotionals, hymnals, a few parenting books and marriage books that are jointly shared by Ruth and I. I also did not count my poultry books. Purely Poultry has a book store. The inventory is kept on my front porch. I also need some poultry books as reference for my poultry business which were not included.

I have not gotten rid of all of my books yet. Ruth did donate my best Christian books to our church’s library. I plan to sell on Amazon for a week. Put them on paperbackswap.com for a week, and then donate the rest to Goodwill.

One Reply to “Books and minimalism”

I’m so impressed and proud of you, Tyler! You’re thinking through the value of your possessions and their ability to serve your current and near-future needs, prioritizing instead of treating everything like it’s equally important and lifestyle appropriate. Gold star!